How to pick fair five-a-side teams

You've got ten players, two sets of bibs and five minutes before kick-off. How you split them decides whether you get a proper game or a 14–3 that nobody enjoys, not even the winners.

This guide goes through the usual ways of picking teams, why the same lot seem to win every week, and how 5asider's auto-pick works.

Why the same lot win every week

It's rarely a fix. It's usually one of these:

• Mates pick mates. Captains pick the people they play well with, and those are often the best players.
• "Same teams as last week." Easy, but if last week was 10–4, so is this week.
• Two good players on the same side. In five-a-side one strong player is a fifth of the team. Two together can decide the game.
• Nobody's keeping track. Without results written down, it's all gut feel, and gut feel likes the loudest players.

The cost is real. People who lose every week stop replying "I'm in". Fair teams keep a weekly game alive.

The usual ways to pick teams

Captains picking

Two captains take turns choosing. It's quick and everyone knows how it works.

The downside is the playground problem. Somebody is always picked last, captains favour their mates, and the two best players are often the captains, so they never play against each other's strengths. It's fine for a one-off. Week after week, it tends to drift.

Random

Bibs out of a bag, or a random team generator. Nobody can argue it's biased, and over a whole season the luck evens out.

In any one week, though, random can hand you a proper mismatch. Over a season that's a lot of one-sided games.

By position

Make sure each side has someone happy to go in goal, someone who'll stay back and someone who'll score. It's worth doing, especially splitting the keepers.

But positions only go so far in five-a-side, where everyone attacks and everyone defends. It helps, but it won't balance the teams on its own.

By ratings

Give each player a number and split the teams so the totals match. This is how most team generators work, and it beats picking by eye.

The catch is where the numbers come from. Rating your mates out of ten causes arguments, and people are rarely honest about themselves. Ratings from results avoid all that: nobody has to rate anybody, and the numbers follow how people actually play.

What a fair game looks like

A fair game isn't one where the teams look equal on paper. It's one that's close: a 7–6 or 9–8, where either side could win at the end.

Some lopsided games will happen however well you pick. Football is like that. Even two perfectly matched sides will sometimes end up 10–4. The aim is fewer of those games, especially the real hammerings that put people off coming back.

How 5asider picks fair teams

On 5asider, everyone who said they're in is waiting on the team-picking board. You can put them into teams yourself with a tap, or drag them about on a laptop. Or press Auto-pick and choose one of three methods. Each one works out a rating for every player from the squad's own results, then tries every possible way of splitting them into two teams. Nobody has to rate anyone.

Optimal

Uses ratings built from everyone's results and recent form.

In plain words: it looks at each game, who was on which side and the score, and works out how much each player tends to help their team, allowing for who they played with and against. After every game, the ratings are nudged up or down for form.

When it splits the teams, it takes the few splits where the two totals are closest. From those, it picks the one least likely to end in a hammering.

New players start at the squad average. Their own results count for more with each game they play, until they've played ten.

Balanced

Evens out the teams on each player's all-time record in the squad. A player's rating is half from their whole history (points won and their team's share of the goals) and half from their last six games. It then picks the split where the two teams' totals are closest.

Anyone with fewer than four games in the squad is counted at the average until they've played a few.

Balanced by form

The same idea, using recent games. A player's rating is mostly their team's share of the goals in their last six games, with a little of their all-time record. Good if someone's been on a hot streak, or coming back from injury.

You still have the final say

Auto-pick fills the two teams and shows each team's total rating, but nothing is saved until you press Save teams. Swap anyone you like first: split the two mates who always end up together, or make sure there's a keeper on each side.

If plans change, bring back someone who said they were out, or add a player who never replied. They're marked as playing.

Tips for fairer teams, whatever you use

• Split the best two. If you only do one thing, put your two strongest players on opposite sides.
• Split the keepers and anyone who prefers to defend.
• Write down the score. You can't balance teams from results you haven't kept. On 5asider, adding the score updates the tables and the ratings together.
• Fix it at half time. If it's 6–0 after ten minutes, swap a player. Nobody minds.
• Mix the teams up. Different teams each week keep it fresh and stop rivalries going sour.

If you're still setting up your game, see how to organise a weekly five-a-side.

Questions people ask

What's the fairest way to pick five-a-side teams?

Balance the teams on how people actually play, using results rather than opinions. Then check the obvious things by eye: the best two on opposite sides, a keeper on each.

Do I have to rate my players to use 5asider's auto-pick?

No. All three methods work out ratings from the scores you record. Nobody rates anybody.

What happens with a new player who has no results yet?

They're counted at the squad average, so they don't tip the balance either way. Their own results take over as they play more games.

What if we've got an odd number of players?

Auto-pick still works. One team gets the extra player, and the ratings are balanced as closely as they can be.

Is 5asider's auto-pick free?

Yes. Team picking, the tables and everything else in 5asider are free.